A few films recently watched.

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:00 AM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/26/2010 at 11:22 PM, The Overlook said:

Dirt. That's what this project needed more than anything. Something to dirty the image. It just looked soooooo fucking pristine and everything seemed to shine or have some glossy, lacquer finish, reminiscent of old screen savers or 3D Max benchmark programs from 10 years ago.

 

Pandora is a pretty pristine place... You'll get your dirty dark images when he makes an R rated Battle Angel.

 

lololol..... how can you not agree with his statement kramer? its a fucking rainforest, every CGI model should'nt look like its made of freshly polished and antibacterial scrubbed plastic, if they did something to give the film a little graininess, or just turned down the shine plasticyness in the rendering, dirtied up the textures more or something it would have looked a lot less cgi kids cartoon

that and seeing this movie outside of a theater makes me even more disappointed with the facial animations

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:32 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:00 AM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/26/2010 at 11:22 PM, The Overlook said:

Dirt. That's what this project needed more than anything. Something to dirty the image. It just looked soooooo fucking pristine and everything seemed to shine or have some glossy, lacquer finish, reminiscent of old screen savers or 3D Max benchmark programs from 10 years ago.

 

Pandora is a pretty pristine place... You'll get your dirty dark images when he makes an R rated Battle Angel.

 

 

lololol..... how can you not agree with his statement kramer? its a fucking rainforest, every CGI model should'nt look like its made of freshly polished and antibacterial scrubbed plastic, if they did something to give the film a little graininess, or just turned down the shine plasticyness in the rendering, dirtied up the textures more or something it would have looked a lot less cgi kids cartoon

 

that and seeing this movie outside of a theater makes me even more disappointed with the facial animations

Most of the environments shots looked real to me, especially in 3D. I would have liked a different design for the Na'Vi which was designed to be extremely pristine to support the theme that they are connected with nature... that they are pure. I don't really know anything about the biology of Pandora, but its certainly possible an alien race with skin as smooth and clean as the Na'Vi could exist.

Interesting note: some of the images in the new Hubble 3D didn't look real to me... some of the shots of the universe looked too fantastical/magical to possibly be real. Humans are used to such darkness and horror, I think its hard for us to wrap our heads around a dramatically different place/planet as real.

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:12 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

I love you dood but seriously you do come across as a 12 year old overly optimistic fanboy/troll quite a lot on this subject

I have gone a little overboard with my defense on this movie, but thats more driven out of boredom then angst. But being a 12 year old, ain't so bad in my opinion. Unless you are characterizing my intelligence... which is pretty sad if thats the case.

i can't find hubble 3d playing anywhere ! i'm pissed

did you see Avatar in 3d Overlook? a good movie 3d does not make, but if you waited to see it on blueray or at home in 2d you're missing out significantly. The whole movie is basically a demonstration not just of the pinnacle of CGI but of 3d viewing technology.

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:00 AM, karmakramer said:

Capitalism is one of the greatest evil's of today. FDR has probably been rolling in his grave ever since 1980.

not to diverge but FDR got us into World War II, one of the most costly wars in the history of the united states. When Eisenhower left office (in the 50s), his final speech was a huge warning of the term he coined 'the military industrial complex'

my point is, FDR may have been an idealist but he's far from being a great president and things have been quite fucked before 1980.

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:00 AM, karmakramer said:

Pandora is a pretty pristine place... You'll get your dirty dark images when he makes an R rated Battle Angel.

huh? is this happening?

god i hope not, the idea of doing any anime live action makes me shudder, James Cameron does not have the subtly to be able to pull off a japanese anime adaptation.

while i dont really have an opinion one way or the other, most of the anime ive seen is anything but subtle..

  On 4/27/2010 at 7:13 AM, Awepittance said:

god i hope not, the idea of doing any anime live action makes me shudder, James Cameron does not have the subtly to be able to pull off a japanese anime adaptation.

He is absolutely obsessed with it though... so I would hope he has a good understanding of the style etc... I don't know much about anime, so I can't comment really. But I would hope such a big fan would understand how to give it justice. I'm interested to see how it comes out.

side note: I was more referring to the structure of how our economy works from 1980 and on... during the years of FDR the very wealthy were getting 90% tax rates... which is what led to the strong economy in the 50's, 60's and 70's... Reagan though cut that down to 28%, which has led to such de-regulation that our economy is no longer based on sound principals and is instead a complete fraud. A year before FDR died he laid out a new bill of rights, one that would give everyone citizen the right to health care, a good education, a good job, and other things. If he had lived longer we would be in a very different world I think.

You should look into the writings of Bill Black... heres a recent interview with him on PBS : http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04232010/watch.html

  Quote

William K. Black thinks President Obama didn't acknowledge a key component in the financial crisis that the bills before Congress won't address — fraud. A former regulator who helped crack down on massive fraud during the savings and loan crisis in the 1980s, Black tells Bill Moyers on THE JOURNAL that, despite evidence of fraud at the top banks, prosecutions seem far away. "If you go back to the savings and loan debacle, we got more than a thousand felony convictions of the elite. These are not, you know, tellers or something. We today have zero convictions, zero indictments, zero arrests of any of the elite, non-prime lenders that, through their fraud, drove this crisis."

This interview basically opened my eyes to a different Obama

  On 4/27/2010 at 7:18 AM, Z_B_Z said:

while i dont really have an opinion one way or the other, most of the anime ive seen is anything but subtle..

haha good point, i guess i just meant the visual subtlety , to me that's one of the more interesting aspects of anime the color schemes, the shading, the ambience.

For some reason i have this like icky taste in my mouth that any american anime adaptation would be more like a Super Mario Brothers the Movie

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:00 AM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/26/2010 at 11:22 PM, The Overlook said:

Cameron did basically everything in his power to diminish my appreciation for the technology in Avatar.

 

The only thing a semi-intelligent adult could appreciate is the technology, after all, but seriously...Cameron fucked up almost every single major creative decision that came his way. The most blaring example, of course, is the design of the aliens. Wow. Just fucking terrible.

 

Dirt. That's what this project needed more than anything. Something to dirty the image. It just looked soooooo fucking pristine and everything seemed to shine or have some glossy, lacquer finish, reminiscent of old screen savers or 3D Max benchmark programs from 10 years ago.

 

Pandora is a pretty pristine place... You'll get your dirty dark images when he makes an R rated Battle Angel.

 

I stand by my stance that Avatar is one of the better blockbuster movies in the past years. If you were expecting a story with the depth of a Coen film or PTA, then what the fuck is wrong with you? Just like how music can be serious or fun, Avatar is purely a mainstream fantasy/sci fi popcorn flick that happens to also have a very interesting message that speaks very true on our human history. Whether you like the movie or not, the story of Avatar is the dirtiest mainstream portrayal of the human race I can remember. Its tremendous success I think speaks volumes on the general populace feelings on our society today and the fear that our Earth will only be destroyed more and more as time passes. Its a very anti-capitalistic film and I think it will be looked back as an important one.

 

Right now I am watching Hardball with Chris Matthews (which is a US MSNBC Political show) and DMC chairman Tim Kaine just brought up Avatar and how its success is a reminder to our government that greed hurts our future more than ever before. Capitalism is one of the greatest evil's of today. FDR has probably been rolling in his grave ever since 1980.

 

If people can accept that the message of Avatar though obvious and simple to most of us, is very very important... then I'm not sure why you'd hate the film so much. Avatar is inspiring new generations to appreciate our greatest gift, Earth.

A movie that was made by so much money as Avatar and with the idea of getting more money is in itself evil. If you can't see how then you're 12 years old.

  On 4/27/2010 at 1:47 PM, gaarg said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 2:00 AM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/26/2010 at 11:22 PM, The Overlook said:

Cameron did basically everything in his power to diminish my appreciation for the technology in Avatar.

 

The only thing a semi-intelligent adult could appreciate is the technology, after all, but seriously...Cameron fucked up almost every single major creative decision that came his way. The most blaring example, of course, is the design of the aliens. Wow. Just fucking terrible.

 

Dirt. That's what this project needed more than anything. Something to dirty the image. It just looked soooooo fucking pristine and everything seemed to shine or have some glossy, lacquer finish, reminiscent of old screen savers or 3D Max benchmark programs from 10 years ago.

 

Pandora is a pretty pristine place... You'll get your dirty dark images when he makes an R rated Battle Angel.

 

I stand by my stance that Avatar is one of the better blockbuster movies in the past years. If you were expecting a story with the depth of a Coen film or PTA, then what the fuck is wrong with you? Just like how music can be serious or fun, Avatar is purely a mainstream fantasy/sci fi popcorn flick that happens to also have a very interesting message that speaks very true on our human history. Whether you like the movie or not, the story of Avatar is the dirtiest mainstream portrayal of the human race I can remember. Its tremendous success I think speaks volumes on the general populace feelings on our society today and the fear that our Earth will only be destroyed more and more as time passes. Its a very anti-capitalistic film and I think it will be looked back as an important one.

 

Right now I am watching Hardball with Chris Matthews (which is a US MSNBC Political show) and DMC chairman Tim Kaine just brought up Avatar and how its success is a reminder to our government that greed hurts our future more than ever before. Capitalism is one of the greatest evil's of today. FDR has probably been rolling in his grave ever since 1980.

 

If people can accept that the message of Avatar though obvious and simple to most of us, is very very important... then I'm not sure why you'd hate the film so much. Avatar is inspiring new generations to appreciate our greatest gift, Earth.

 

A movie that was made by so much money as Avatar and with the idea of getting more money is in itself evil. If you can't see how then you're 12 years old.

You should burn all your aphex twinz and autechre albums cause they spent a ton of money on their fancy computers and tech... why don't they just make musics with guitars? I saw Richard D James once, he's the DEVIL!

Good comparison. Except for the fact that every afx track contains more creative genius than the entire Avatar puts forth. And the entire equipment that RDJ ever used to make a track probably cost as much as one of those pointless fights in the movie.

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:24 PM, gaarg said:

Good comparison. Except for the fact that every afx track contains more creative genius than the entire Avatar puts forth. And the entire equipment that RDJ ever used to make a track probably cost as much as one of those pointless fights in the movie.

not to mention you aren't saying capitalism is evil.

anyway,

all that about avatar having a message is BS to me, in avatar they go to great lengths to make pandora cool, pandora is many times better than earth, in comparison, earth is a very crappy place to be on so maybe we should just suck the life out of it already so we can find a new and cooler planet. in avatar, the inhabitants of pandora had to actually have a physical connection to the planet to appreciate it, why can't they care for their planet without having to internet with it?

so what's the real message? humans will rape earth unless we learn to internet with it?

besides, it's a boring film.

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:24 PM, gaarg said:

Good comparison. Except for the fact that every afx track contains more creative genius than the entire Avatar puts forth. And the entire equipment that RDJ ever used to make a track probably cost as much as one of those pointless fights in the movie.

In order for tech to advance in film, someone has to spend money developing it. Not arguing over the creativity of either thing, cause thats entirely subjective. If Cameron wants to convince studios to make his "lifelong dream project" and to do it he has to develop new 3D camera tech and performance capture technology, then cool good for him. That investment is not just an investment for Avatar, but it advances the entire industry... hell Cameron has been doing this his entire career. He will be looked back as one of film's finest technicians, both him and Stan Winston.

So it is a good comparison because it is comparing the necessity for artists to create and develop new tech to achieve the image or sound they want. You can not like the end product, but to say the product was made out of greedy intentions seems completely batshit insane. Go watch a Michael Bay movie if you want a film driven by greed. Cameron wouldn't have made Avatar if it was driven for profit. Not sure if you remember but before this was released most thought it was going to tank! Pretty much every film Cameron has made, they always predict he won't make back his money, yet he always does.

the way you says that makes you look like you believe advancing the industry is a good thing.

  On 4/27/2010 at 10:13 AM, Awepittance said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 7:18 AM, Z_B_Z said:

while i dont really have an opinion one way or the other, most of the anime ive seen is anything but subtle..

 

haha good point, i guess i just meant the visual subtlety , to me that's one of the more interesting aspects of anime the color schemes, the shading, the ambience.

For some reason i have this like icky taste in my mouth that any american anime adaptation would be more like a Super Mario Brothers the Movie

i guess there's miyazaki. compare avatar to mononoke hime. same basic premise. the former was a remake of ferngully with aliens. the latter has humans destroying forests but still there are no real bad guys (except for the emperor whom you never actually meet), just people trying to survive and ideals clashing. but yeah, there aren't a lot of miyazaki's in anime. usually there's just the same japanese school with the bell and sexually repressed kinky teens endowed with superpowers or giant robotto

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:43 PM, GORDO said:

the way you says that makes you look like you believe advancing the industry is a good thing.

Yeah, as in developing tech to allow artists and filmmakers more freedom...

I'm starting to think you guys love hating this film more then I love liking it. Just seems kind of like weird priorities.

Comparing Mononoke-hime to Avatar (as much as I enjoyed it) is insulting. One is visually beautiful and the other is perfection. Actually it's funny you just mentioned Miyazaki because...

My Neighbour Totoro! I'll confess I didn't get it, but because I refuse to lose faith in Hayao Miyazaki I'll rewatch it in a few years. (Yes.)

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:50 PM, karmakramer said:

I'm starting to think you guys love hating this film more then I love liking it.

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:50 PM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:43 PM, GORDO said:

the way you says that makes you look like you believe advancing the industry is a good thing.

 

Yeah, as in developing tech to allow artists and filmmakers more freedom...

 

Affordable digital cameras and digital distribution have done more for artistic freedom than avatars tech will ever do.

yeah but I'm trying to say none of those things would be possible without capitalism. but lets move on.

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:53 PM, Gocab said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:50 PM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:43 PM, GORDO said:

the way you says that makes you look like you believe advancing the industry is a good thing.

 

Yeah, as in developing tech to allow artists and filmmakers more freedom...

 

Affordable digital cameras and digital distribution have done more for artistic freedom than avatars tech will ever do.

You know the future? Thats amazing dude! Sucks 3D film-making for independent film-makers like myself never took off... Damn I guess everyone likes looking at the world through one eye

And how do you think affordable digital cameras and the digital internet were created? Magic?

fucking miracles

  On 4/27/2010 at 4:01 PM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:53 PM, Gocab said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:50 PM, karmakramer said:

  On 4/27/2010 at 3:43 PM, GORDO said:

the way you says that makes you look like you believe advancing the industry is a good thing.

 

Yeah, as in developing tech to allow artists and filmmakers more freedom...

 

Affordable digital cameras and digital distribution have done more for artistic freedom than avatars tech will ever do.

 

You know the future? Thats amazing dude! Sucks 3D film-making for independent film-makers like myself never took off... Damn I guess everyone likes looking at the world through one eye

 

And how do you think affordable digital cameras and the digital internet were created? Magic?

the magic of capitalism, yes.